This is one of the first truly British cakes I tried after moving to the U.K. in the early 2000’s. Named for Queen Victoria, this is said to be one of her favorite confections. Now, over twenty years later, and after over a dozen moves – it’s a favorite in my home. I recommend serving this cake on a rickety outdoor dining table covered with some sort of old-fashioned table cloth – a big pot of tea set in the middle. It’s preferable that the table be in the shade, precariously teetering on uneven ground and surrounded by an overgrown […]
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This is the kind of dish that will transform a regular Saturday or Sunday into a memorable, cozy day. Chicken and dumplings is really just a stew without potatoes or any other starches in the stew portion. Instead, it’s topped with raw biscuit dough and the dough is allowed to steam and puff up into perfect little orbs of soft, pillowy pastry. Plan to spend 5-7 hours in total on this recipe. While this is definitely a “slow cooking” dish, the hands-on work for this recipe totals only about thirty minutes. It’s the stewing and the simmering that take […]
The history of peanut butter cookies. Peanut butter cookies are distinctly American! First published in a cookbook in 1910, the peanut butter cookie is credited to none other than George Washington Carver! Carver published a cookbook entitled “How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it for Human Consumption”. Now, with their distinctive waffle-marks on top – they are the quintessential American after school snack. It’s important to let the baked cookies rest on the hot pan after coming out of the oven so they won’t fall apart. The peanut butter softens to almost a liquid when […]
This German delicacy is what we would easily call a tart. It is known in Germany, however, as “kuchen” or cake. This cake is comprised of three layers. The first layer is a light and delicately flavored sponge cake. The second layer is comprised of fresh plums. The third layer is a gorgeous, crumbly, buttery, cookie-like streusel topping, lightly flavored with cinnamon. The pictures and brief overview of the recipe (below) is what I like to think of as a “story book” presentation. The full, detailed, printable recipe is below. The preferred plums for this cake are what we would […]